Driver In Fatal SUV-Bike Crash Admits Fault

The driver of the SUV that has admitted fault in the crime.

The 17-year-old changed his plea to "guilty" in court in Martinez Wednesday morning and was taken to juvenile hall, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. He is charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and will be sentenced on Oct. 22.

Patch has determined not to name the 17-year-old due to his age. He faces a term of up to seven years and eight months, but will be released in just three years when he turns 21 since he will have been convicted as a minor. California law stipulates that minors cannot be charged as adults in cases of vehicular manslaughter, which is not categorized as a violent felony.

The teen driver also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless driving, KTVU reports. Two other misdemeanor charges were dropped as part of the plea deal.

Judge Lois Haight and Senior Deputy District Attorney Dan Cabral deemed the teenager a "danger to society" and he was incarcerated immediately.

Peter Coleridge, the teenager's attorney, told the court Wednesday that his client is "not an evil person" and wants to take responsibility for the suffering he has caused, according to Bay City News. 

Members of the Nuri family declined to hear an apology from the teenager in court, and their attorney, Michael Cardoza, said that while his willingness to admit guilt and apologize is good, "it rings a bit hollow to us now," he said. "We didn't hear it on the day he was arrested, when it would have meant something to us."

72 mph

He was apparently driving at an excessive rate of speed when the crash occurred — 72 mph in a 45-mph zone, according to police. The driver had also made an unsafe lane change just before hitting the three members of Nuri family, who were riding their bicycles on Treat Boulevard around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, April. 7.

Solaiman Nuri was pronounced dead at the scene, and Hadessa died a short time later at John Muir Medical Center. Hannah, 12, suffered minor injuries in the crash.

Stoorai Nuri, the widow of Solaiman Nuri, along with her daughter Hannah and brother, attended the Concord City Council meeting Tuesday evening to thank the city for its support. The city plans to install a bench in Ygnacio Valley Park to commemorate the tragic loss of Solaiman and Hadessa Nuri.